A Tale in the DesertReview

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This could be the MMORPG You've Been Waiting For.

By Jennifer Cochran

A Tale in the Desert (ATITD) has completely taken me in. What's even more amazing is that it captured my attention when I was very involved in another game. ATITD is unlike anything I've ever played before. It's an MMORPG but there's no combat. Instead, you work to unlock technology and learn new things. There are different disciplines, each with different tests to take and pass. You work to build things great and small - from a chest to a tent to a master forge. There is a legal system that is controlled by the player base. I think this game has something for everyone. People looking for PvP may not be as impressed with it as I am. However, this game is a free download, I suggest even they give it a try.

After downloading the game from the official site (http://www.atitd.com) and patching, you enter the story. Pharaoh has proclaimed his Egypt is perfect, but a mysterious Evil Stranger disagrees. He puts Pharaoh to the test and challenges him to have his people pass tests in seven different disciplines. The Evil Stranger follows the progress of the citizens of Egypt and will do his best to sabotage their efforts, but in very subtle ways. Eventually all players will have to overcome his interference and build a Great Work in each Discipline.

You're not left to flounder on your own in this game. When you first log into the game, you are given the ability to find a mentor. I'll use my mentor as an example. When I first entered Egypt, she took three other newcomers in addition to me under her wing. You arrive as a peasant and are given your very first goal: to become a citizen. There are several steps to achieving this and your mentor will guide you through them all. For example, at first, we gathered slate and took it to the School of Architecture. We paid 2 slate as tuition and learned stone blade fabrication. From there, we were able to make stone blades and learn carpentry. After several more steps, we all made bricks and became citizens. Through all of this, our mentor was there guiding us. I was eventually able to build a shrine honoring her, something I was excited to do after all of her help.

So, now that you're a citizen of Egypt, what do you want to do? Amazingly enough - you can do whatever you want. No, this isn't where you go to character creation and choose a class and distribute your skill points. There are no set "classes." You can explore all of Egypt looking for rare gems and minerals. There are people who are trying to become great political figures. We have some in our guild who spend their day trying to find the perfect recipe or the best spot to grow cabbage. You can be an architect, a trader or an artist. You can even spend your day just wandering around, looking at (and judging) other people's sculptures.

One of the things that first attracted me to this game is your ability to both have a life AND play the game. If the doorbell rings, that's fine, you can go answer it. The day I decided to quit Everquest was the day that I had been sitting at my computer for 6 hours straight and had accomplished absolutely nothing. In this game that will never happen. You can play for ten minutes and honestly get something done. Obviously, the more time you spend in the game, the faster you'll progress. However you can, and will, progress no matter how much time you can devote to it.

The in-game chat system is great. You have your main channel, a channel for system messages, a channel for your guild (or guilds as you can join more than one) and channels you can open for anyone you want to send private tells to. What is even better is the in-game email system, EgyptMail. If someone's not online, simply send them mail and they'll get it next time they log in.

The cooperation in this game is amazing. Never before in any MMORPG have I felt more like I was part of a team. I've always been in great guilds, and we've gone on raids, done epic quests, but never anything like this. In Egypt, we work together to build great things. Just today, we built an obelisk for one of our guildmates. It took two hours of everyone making bricks, but it was fun and well worth it when we saw the finished product. Someday, we may even build a pyramid.